Post inside this category will show up on the front page
Parents of children eligible for Free School Meals can apply for help towards their energy costs (gas & electric) through the Covid Winter Grant.
Many parents have already applied and received an award but many others have not.
Duplicate applications are not permitted but if anyone has not yet applied they can find more information and apply using this link;
https://www.doncaster.gov.uk/doitonline/apply-for-a-covid-winter-grant
Dear Parents/Carers,
I am just writing with a couple of staffing updates….
Firstly, I just wanted to take this opportunity to let parents know that I will be taking some time away from school later this year as my partner, Lewis and I are expecting our first baby at the end of June.
By June, Carcroft will have joined the XP Trust group of schools and the school will be overseen by the Executive Team, however, our four Assistant Headteachers will run the school on a day to day basis and will meet weekly with the Trust in order to ensure that everything is running smoothly. Miss Whitehead, Mrs Fox, Mr Longley and Mr Tucker will have worked together as a team since September under my leadership and I am confident that the school will continue to move forward on its journey of improvement under their leadership alongside the support of the trust. I also plan on keeping in touch throughout my maternity leave in order to ensure that I am up to speed for when I return. We are currently working on the staffing structure and will ensure that parents are informed as soon as we finalise our leadership structure for September. I just wanted to let parents know now, as it might be a bit of a shock for some parents/children when they return later in the term and I have suddenly grown in size….
Finally, on another note, I would like to say farewell to Ms Thorpe in Year 1 as she embarks on a new venture after 9 years at Carcroft. Thank you for your dedication to the school and good luck for the future Ms Thorpe.
Regards,
Miss Laing
Headteacher
Dear Parents/Carers,
As you are aware, from this Friday, our school site will only be open to pupils eligible for a critical worker place (until all pupils return later in the term).
If you applied for a critical worker place via the Google Form and HAVE NOT heard from us, this means that you are eligible and your child has a place.
Mrs Lythe or Mr Tucker may have contacted you if you applied for a place but did not meet the criteria for a place to discuss the reason why your application was not successful.
Therefore, if you have applied and have not heard anything, children are to arrive outside the main reception area at 8.30am.
However, when we first sent the letter, there was an error regarding finish time, Friday FINISH TIME WILL BE 1pm and NOT 1.30pm as originally stated. However, if this causes a problem, please do not hesitate to contact the school office and we will do our best to help.
To summarise:
Friday start time for critical worker pupils is: 8.30am
Friday finish time for critical worker pupils is: 1:00pm
We have put together a letter which outlines the rationale behind us limiting our numbers on a Friday and what the learning offer will look like for both critical worker pupils and those working remotely as this will look slightly different to our Monday to Thursday offer.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11O7y6DB92mZgqp7R6_E2LpjC2Z8a77tDzCn8A9Xm8SE/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you for your continued support,
Miss Laing
2021’s theme is Express Yourself This week is children’s mental health week so on Friday 5th February we would love to see our children, parents and staff expressing themselves in their favourite outfit.
That might be, non uniform, a fancy dress costume or their favourite football top.
In the children’s crews they will be talking about how to express themselves.
Check out this link for more information Children’s Mental Health Week 2021
04.02.2021
Dear Parent/Carer,
I would like to inform you that a pupil in Crew Fox has unfortunately tested positive for Coronavirus on Thursday 4th February. This bubble is now closed.
The pupils’ symptoms started on Wednesday 3rd February. Following government guidance all pupils and staff that have been to school MUST self isolate.
Please ensure your children self isolate and DO NOT leave their house at any time during the 10 days self isolation. The isolation will end on 13th February. All pupils and staff can return to school on Monday 22nd February.
Mrs Fox will be in touch regarding online learning.
I am sure you will join me in wishing the pupil a speedy recovery. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding during this difficult time.
Stay safe.
Mrs Lythe
03.02.2021
Advice for Child to Self-Isolate for 10 Days
Dear Parents / Carers,
As you are aware, at the request of the Department for Education (DFE), we have introduced Lateral Flow Testing of staff to keep everybody in our school as safe as possible.
Unfortunately, a staff member has had a positive result following the use of a Lateral Flow Test and will therefore now take a PCR test to confirm this as a positive case of Covid-19. Until the result is received and in accordance with DFE guidance, any child who has close contact with the affected staff member must isolate immediately.
Your child has been identified as having had close contact with the member of staff and will therefore need to isolate until the PCR results are returned.
Should the result of the PCR test of the staff member return as a negative result then your child will be able to return to school if they have been accessing in-school learning. We will inform you of any changes via text and email.
Should the result of the PCR test of the staff member return as a positive your child will need to continue their isolation until the 10 days have finished.
Please note that other members of your household can continue normal activities provided your child does not develop symptoms within the 10 day self-isolation period.
We are asking you to do this to reduce the further spread of COVID 19 to others in the community and to support the NHS.
It is unfortunate that we are unable to have those children that have been in Crew Kent and Gerrard in school until further notice.
Furthermore, their class teachers will be available to support with online learning. We would like children to check-in everyday as part of our safeguarding procedures. Children should be familiar with this process however should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your continued support during this difficult time.
Stay safe.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Lythe
School Business Manager
We plan to be open for those pupils who have been attending school tomorrow and will be continuing as normal with remote learning for pupils at home.
Thank you for your patience today. We’ve loved seeing your photos. See you tomorrow either in school or on Google Classroom.
Dear Parents/Carers,
I just wanted to write a quick post briefly explaining the process in which schools are asked to go through with regards to C-19 symptoms and testing.
When a member of staff/pupil demonstrates symptoms for C-19, they are asked to go for a C-19 test, however, at that point the bubble does not have to close.
When a member of staff/pupils is confirmed as being positive for C-19, based on Public Health England Guidance, we are asked to identify who the individual has had close contact with and this includes answering the following questions:
Anyone who has had any of the following types of contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19:
In school, we have asked the adults in each bubble to restrict the contact in which they have with pupils so that they are having close contact with only a few pupils, in particular for support staff, whereby they tend to sit with 1 or 2 pupils or a table of pupils, however, this does prove more difficult for the Teacher. This is to help us to minimise disruption for pupils and parents, as we can better identify those who have had close contact with the positive case.
Public Health England do not class close contact as the whole of the bubble but only those that are outlined as being a close contact based on the guidance above.
Therefore, when we closed our first bubble this term, we only asked a few children within that bubble to isolate as the member of staff shared they had only had close contact with a table of pupils. However, once a further member of staff tested positive within the same bubble, we asked the same questions and that member of staff shared that they believed that they had close contact with the whole bubble at some point in the previous 48 hours, therefore, we then extended the isolation to the whole bubble. This bubble has now returned to school, the only confirmed cases were the three adults working within this bubble and no further confirmed cases reported.
Regarding the closing of bubbles and isolation, it has to be done on a case by case basis, for example, when we had our first confirmed cases week commencing 18th January, we did as the PHE guidance states as outlined above, which meant only a few pupils/staff were asked to isolate and not the whole bubble initially. However, last week, when we had a confirmed case in Year 2, in light of having a cluster of cases within school, to ensure we were doing everything in which we could to prevent further cases arising, we decided to take the precautionary measure of closing the two Year 2 classes.
Now that we have introduced lateral flow testing for staff, we have an additional layer to consider. If a member of staff tests positive on their LFT on a Sunday or Wednesday, they are asked to isolate and book for a ‘real’ test (PCR) test as soon as they can. We will inform you of this result on that day and ask the children to isolate until we have a confirmed result.
If the member of staff’s ‘real’ test comes back as positive they isolate as does the rest of the bubble for 10 days and if it comes back negative, the bubble can return to school
I would like to assure parents that we are ensuring that we follow guidance provided from Public Health England and although I know at times, parents may be confused by the guidance, it’s the guidance we are asked to follow at this time.
It’s such a difficult time for everyone and together we are doing a great job.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding,
Miss Laing
